A screening of the new Garfield movie in Spain turned to ‘chaos’ as a brawl broke out between a boxer and another member of the audience, all while the family-friendly film continued to play
Cinemagoers were left in shock as a violent fight erupted during a screening of the new Garfield movie.
Two men were seen trading blows while the family-friendly film continued to play, causing “chaos” at the cinema in Leon, Spain. Twitter/X users were left baffled by a video of the incident, questioning how a Garfield movie could “get people this heated”.
Spanish boxer Antonio Barrul, a six-time national amateur champion who turned professional last year, said the brawl was sparked by threats from another audience member. He admitted he “couldn’t control” himself and has since apologised for the fight, which saw him land a flurry of punches and kicks on the other man.
Barrul told Radioestadio Noche: “Everything was chaos and a disaster. He started to threaten me and it got worse and worse until I decided to go down (to where he was sitting). I couldn’t control myself and what you see in the video happened.”
Footage shows Barrul pummelling the other man with a series of punches and knees to the body and head, before he is pulled away by fellow cinemagoers. He has since expressed regret for his actions.
“I apologised in the cinema and publicly because those images do not make me proud. What is shown in that video is not who I am. I would try (if the same thing happened again) to get the security to come and take him away. If security had come on time, many things could have been avoided.”
Twitter was abuzz with reactions to the unexpected cinema brawl. One user joked: “I see how Garfield can get people riled up.” Another commented: “Didn’t even watch the movie and I know there’s not a single scene in the movie where they need to be doing this.”
The fact that the lights were on during the screening seemed to irk some users more than the scuffle itself. Another person said: “I’d be fighting too [if I had] to watch the movie with the lights on that’s insane.” Someone else questioned: “Why are the lights in the theatre on, in the middle of the movie?”